Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Eagletail Mountains and the Canyons of Wickenberg

Over the last ten days or so Blue and I have seen a little country and travelled a few miles both on horseback and with the trailer. Last Wednesday I was out of here early in the morning to meet “K” and Teresa out west of Phoenix near Tonopah. We were going to ride out past Courthouse Rock,

and then down the canyon past Indian Springs. It was a beautiful ride across the desert and through some very picturesque valleys and along a narrow canyon. The weather couldn’t have been better, somewhere in the mid to high 70’s (25C) and the company was excellent. Unlike many of our rides there was just the three of us along on this one so we were able to ride and chat and get a good look at the many petroglyphs along the way. The canyon walls around Indian Springs must have been a favourite spot for the artists of the day to display their craft.

Then Friday I headed up to Sophia’s Flats to meet a larger group of folks for a weekend of riding. There were people from Alberta, BC, Washington, Oregon, and of course our host state of Arizona there for the two days of riding. Saturday we headed out towards Pink Canyon and Box Canyon and although the sky was cloudy we only had a couple of raindrops through the day and the temperature was not to bad at all, probably somewhere in the 50’s for a high.

We managed to see some pretty country that I had heard about for years but had never managed to make it into before this weekend. The Hassayampa River runs through a couple of canyons up here and although it was only a few inches deep where we encountered it there was evidence of water being 15 or 20 feet higher at times in the past. Below is a shot at the entrance to Box Canyon a narrow slot canyon that reminded those of us from Alberta of our own Hidden Falls without the water, although our Arizona folks assured us that there could be 10 feet of water on the canyon floor at times.

There was some wonderful scenery along this trail and it is always nice to run into some running water along the way out here in the desert.

Of course with this group there is always some eating going on and Ted and Julie from Oregon put on quite a Mexican spread all by themselves although the rest of us pitched in and brought enough that a small nation could have enjoyed the feast.

Sunday is usually a short ride and this one was no different although we did traverse some real nice scenery and the sun was shining brightly so that made it seem much warmer.

Blue is turning into a pretty wise trail horse and Sunday I let him for the most part pick his own way down the trail and “K” got some pictures of us making our way along and I have bunched them into the album below.

The ride today was over a high pass and into what is called Dinosaur Canyon and the map below has both days of riding on it. This years rides have the white spots along the trail and the solid trail off to the right is a ride we took last year.

Ken Pohl and I thought we should see if we could fit in Ron and Kelly from Langley, BC’s little Smart Car and although we made it in we agreed we were probably not in the market for ones of our own anytime soon.

Here is a shot of the sunset we enjoyed while we dined on Saturday night.

We were in the Wickenberg area one spring after the Hassayampa River had flooded--the devastation was awful! Where was Ms. Brenda on all these rides--looks like she missed some beautiful country. Our friends who live in Congress, Jerry and Caryl, took us to Box Canyon in our jeep a couple years ago.

Cowboy Prayer

May God give you gentle horses,And an even trail to ride,Pure waters, greener pastures,And a good friend by your side,May you always have protection,From the northern winds that blow,And may you find God’s Blessingwherever you may go.

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About Us

I retired from a Canadian Oil company in 2007 and after a couple of summers consulting for them we decided it was time to see North America. In the summers we like to be back in Alberta with our grandchildren, horses and the mountains close by. Winters it would be nice to be somewhere a little warmer, luckily our home has wheels and getting somewhere warm is just a matter of pulling in the slides and lifting the jacks and heading out.